Tacuarembó

Getting there

By bus From Montevideo, buses leave from Terminal Tres Cruces, and the 5-hr ride costs around U$800. Timetable, companies and prices can be checked at its website. From Porto Alegre in Brazil, companies Turil go all the way to Tacuarembó twice a week (leaves Porto Alegre Mondays and Fridays 23:15, 170 BRL or 50 USD, and goes back to Porto Alegre Sundays and Thursdays 21:30, U$3 or 103 USD (2018). (Buy your tickets from the Brazilian version of their website). But it is cheaper to take a bus from Porto Alegre to Santana do Livramento (07:00, 100 BRL or 30 USD), walk across the border to Rivera (don't forget to pass on the immigration post), and take a onward bus to Tacuarembó (2 hr, U$240 or 8 USD). From Rivera to Tacuarembó, the M-Sa timetable is: 04:30*, 06:00, 07:00, 10:00, 15:00*, 15:30*, 19:00 (* Sunday service).

By train From Rivera there's twice weekly (Monday and Friday) a train. Leaving Rivera at 18:00 and arriving at 1 Tacuarembo Train Station at 20:10. For the return trip, the train leaves at 7:00 in Tacuarembo and arrives at 9:10 in Rivera (Monday and Friday).

Getting around

Tacuarembó town is fairly small and easily walkable. However, a good number of attractions lie out of town and you'll need your own transport to reach them.

See

1 Carlos Gardel Museum, kilometer # 208 on route 26 (go 23 km south from the city of Tacuarembó via 26 route heading Paysandú.). Th-Su 08:00-17:00. Largely dedicated to presenting evidence that the tango legend was actually born in Uruguay (and not in Argentina or France, as usually believed), the museum has a nice selection of newspaper articles and other documents. It's a nice insight into a less formal era, when name, age, parents or nationality could easily be concealed. The museum buildings are a reproduction of the nearby estancia in which Gardel would have been born. U$25. (updated Mar 2018) 2 Gaucho and Indian Museum (Museo del Indio y del Gaucho), corner of av. General Artigas and Av. General Flores. (updated Mar 2018) 3 El Hongo, corner of av. República Argentina and calle Manuel Rodríguez Correa. A giant work of public art that supposedly resembles a mushroom, created by Walter Domingo, an architect who created several other important works in Tacuarembó Department. With the work, Domingo wanted to represent the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (updated Aug 2017)

Do

1 Laguna de las Lavanderas (Washerwomen Lagoon) (head North until you cross the bridge). Besides being the heart of Gaucho culture during the Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha, the lagoon is also a favorite place for locals to go drink mate in late afternoon (updated Mar 2018) 2 Valle Edén, kilometer # 208 on route 26 (go 23 km south from the city of Tacuarembó via 26 route heading Paysandú.). Valle Edén is a mountain range zone with a subtropical vegetation. The "arroyo jabonería" , "la gruta de los galpones" and the "Carlos Gardel" museum are must see places for tourists. There is wooden suspension bridge, an old train station and some railway tracks too. (updated May 2016) 3 Balneario Ypora (7 km from Tacuarembó roundabout near the northern bridge). A lagoon surrounded by grass and some pine trees, popular on sunny days for some water fun, sun-bathing and drinking mate. (updated Mar 2018) Nearby is the Indian Cemetery which has been in continuous use since precolumbian times. 4 Cerro Batoví (25 km from the city of Tacuarembó take route 5 heading south to Paso de los Toros). The 224-m-high mountain is a symbol included in the "Escudo del Departamento" (departamental shield). Its name Batoví means "virgin's breast" in the Guarani language. (updated Nov 2017)

Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha

This big event celebrating regional countryside life and customs takes place annually on the second weekend of March, on Lavanderas Lake. It remains a very traditional event, with most attendees being somehow connected to gaucho culture of Northern Uruguay. Official website: https://www.patriagaucha.com.uy/ It is structured as a competition between gaucho culture groups, the sociedades criollas, most located in nearby villages. A group of them, Sociedades Participantes, competes for the fair big prize, while another group, Sociedades Invitadas, competes for the right to join the Sociedades Participantes on the year to come. Tournaments counting points for the sociedades include:

many t

Sleep

Hotel Orange: Av. 25 de Agosto 247, Tel. +598 4632 6862, offers nice basic equipped rooms Tacuarembo Hotel: Av. 18 de Julio 133, Tel. +598 (4)63 22104, +598 (4)63 22105, +598 (0)63 22945 Hotel Central, ☏ +598 (4)63 22341. Av. Gral. Flores 300, 1 Hotel Carlos Gardel, Ruta 5 km 387.500, ☏ +598 4633 0301. (updated Aug 2017)

Go next

Salto, one bus a day M-Sa 16:00, Su 17:0], U$600 or 21 USD.